PICTURESQUE ANIMALS. 293 



Among birds the owl is often represented in engrav- 

 ings, when it is designed to impart to the scene a char- 

 acter of desolation. We often see this bird accompany- 

 ing a picture of ruins or of a deserted house, and in 

 poetry he is introduced to awaken certain peculiar 

 trains of thought. Thus the poet Gray, when he would 

 add a desolate expression to his description of evening, 

 speaks of the owl as complaining to the moon of such 

 as molest his ancient solitary reign. The allusion to 

 his nocturnal habits, and to his solitary dominions, 

 brings still more vividly to mind those qualities with 

 which the image of the bird is associated. His appro- 

 priate habitations are the ruined tower, the ancient 

 belfry, or the hollow of an old tree. In all such places, 

 the figure of the owl is deeply suggestive of those 

 fancies, which are awakened by the sight of ancient 

 dilapidated buildings, crumbling walls, and old houses 

 supposed to be the residence of wicked spirits which 

 are permitted to visit the earth. 



It is on account of these dreary and poetic associa- 

 tions that the owl is so truly picturesque. He is often 

 seen, in paintings and engravings, perched on an old 

 gateway, or on one of the bars of an old fence, whose 

 posts, leaning obliquely, show that they have been 

 heaved by the frosts of many winters. In certain situ- 

 ations our slumbers are sometimes disturbed by the 

 peculiar hooting of this bird, that awakens in the mind 

 the gloomy horrors of midnight. His nocturnal and 

 solitary habits, the unearthly tones and modulation of 

 his voice, his practice of frequenting rude and desolate 

 places and haunted houses, have caused his image to 

 be intimately connected with mystery and gloomy fore- 

 bodings of evil. The very stillness of his flight yields 

 a sort of mysterious character to the bird ; all these cir- 



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